Background:

The ancient
synagogue of Beit alpha, dated to the Byzantine period, was a 20m x
14M building. It was covered across its entire floor by a magnificent
colorful mosaic floor. The mosaic floor, which was very well preserved,
includes a Zodiac , Jewish ritual objects and the ark, two
inscriptions in Greek and Aramaic, geometric patterns and icons of
animals, birds, plants and fruits, and a scene from the Biblical story of
the binding of Isaac.

Location:

The ancient synagogue is housed in
a modern structure which was built over the floor in order to protect it,
and is open to the public. This national park is located between the two
modern Kibbutz of Beit-Alpha and Hefzi-Bah. The visitors entrance is through a
parking area located inside Kibbutz Hefzi-Bah.

On the highest point in Kibbutz Hefzi-Bah,
on the foothills of Mt. Giboa,
is a small Japanese garden and a learning center of the Makuya Christian
movement.

You can point on
the purple
points to navigate to the selected point.

History:

Roman/Byzantine period

Beit-Alpha
was a small Roman/Byzantine agriculture village, situated at the
northern foothills of Mt. Giboa. It was located near the Roman road from
Scythopolis (Beit She'an) to Megiddo/Legion and Caesarea.

The village is
marked (with a yellow circle) on a section of the
Peutinger map
(Peutingeriana tabula), which is based on a Roman map of the 4th C Imperial Roman roads.
Note that the map is inverted with the west on top. On the east end is "Scytopoli",
and on the west side is Caperconti (Legion near Megiddo)
and then
Caesarea Maritama ("Cesaria").

Traces of the Roman/Byzantine ruins were found around the ancient synagogue.
These ruins were partially excavated in 1962, but the area around the site is
populated by modern structures of Kibbutz Hefzi-Ba. Walking around the ancient
synagogue you can still notice fragments of ceramics around the site, but
basically nothing remained except for the beautiful mosaic floor and parts of
the structure.

The village was established during
the 1st C AD or so. The synagogue itself was built at the end
of the 3rd C, while its mosaic floor was commissioned during the beginning of
the 6th C, at the times of Byzantine emperor Justine I (reigned 518-527). The
artists who are named in the mosaic inscription - Marianos and his son Hanina
- are the same mosaic craftsmen of the nearby city of
Beit She'an.

Later periods

The synagogue continued to
function under Arab control, but was destroyed in the massive earthquake of 749AD which
leveled many of the towns and cities in the region. It remained in ruins until
the 20th C.

Under the Arab control, and later
the Mameluk and Ottoman periods, the water channels and irrigation of the area
were not repaired ever since the great earthquake. Soon enough, the whole basin
of the Harod valley, between Afula and Beit She'an, turned into one big swamp.
This prevented any use of the land, so the region remained deserted until the
Jewish resettlement of the Jezreel valley in the 1920s.

The site was examined in the PEF
survey (1866-1877) by Wilson, Conder and Kitchener. It appears as "Kh.
Beit Ilfa" in the
center of the section of this map of 1878. They described it
as "Foundations of buildings and walls. There are in the ruins many
stones well dressed, and apparently older than the Arabic work".
They added "Guerin found, a little to the right of the ruined and
abandoned village, numerous heaps of stones, the greater part of
fair dimensions, and dispersed in the midst of high thorn-bushes.
Among these remains were noted also two ancient sarcophagi, each
measuring 9'10" long by 3'3" broad, decorated by rare ornaments...".

The site is situated near two
ancient Roads - marked by a single dashed line (below it,
going from Beth She'an to Megiddo) and one at the bottom of the
section which is marked by a double dashed line (going thru Fakouah
to Jenin).

Part of
Map
sheet 9 of Survey of Western Palestine, by Conder and Kitchener, 1872-1877. (Published
1880, reprinted
LifeintheHolyLand.com)

Modern times

Two
Kibbutz settlements were established in 1922 around the ruins of the Roman
village, a place known as Khirbet Beit-Ilfa. The Kibbutz on the east side was
named after the ruins - "Beit-Alpha". The Kibbutz on the west was named "Hefzi-bah",
which is one of the Biblical names of Jerusalem.

The
mosaic was discovered in 1928 by the settlers during the development of the
area. The excavations were managed by E.L. Sukenik in 1929, the famous
archaeologist who acquired the Dead Sea scrolls and the father of the renowned
archaeologist/general Yigal Yadin. The picture below (courtesy of the museum)
shows the professor directing the dig, standing on the right side of the dig.

The
discovery and the dig was an important event for the Zionist movement - the
first ancient synagogue excavated by a Jewish archaeologist in the newly
founded land.

Today the site is a national park
and is a recommended place for a short one-hour stop. An audiovisual
presentation shows a humorous play of the process of the commissioning
of the mosaic, which is projected around and over the mosaic floor.

Photos:

(a) Plan

A reconstruction of the Synagogue is
seen in the model which is located near the museum's entrance. This was a
two-story rectangular structure, facing south-west towards Jerusalem.
The roof was entirely covered by ceramic tiles. The upper level probably had
functioned as the
women's wing, and stairs led to it from the right (west) room.

An open courtyard (atrium,
10m wide x 7m long) is reached from the street, with an opening on the western
side of the courtyard wall. The courtyard is paved with mosaics, decorated
with geometric patterns. On its south side is a covered narthex (2.5m
long), which leads via three doorways into the inner prayer hall.

Click on the photos to view in higher
resolution...

(b) Interior

The prayer hall (10m wide x
8m long) consists of a central nave and two side aisles, separated by eight
stone pillars, which are seen in the photo. The entire floor in the prayer room is covered with a colorful
decorated mosaic, with the main paintings and inscriptions arranged along the
central nave. The floor of the western aisle is decorated with geometric
patterns, while the eastern aisle is paved with undecorated white stone.

A rounded raised recess (2.4m
deep) on the south side of the synagogue is where the ark stood. There are
three steps leading up from the floor.

(c) Central Nave

The mosaic in the central nave is
arranged along the length of the floor, and consists of three panels:

South side
(top of the photo, close to the raised recess): a painting of the ark and
ritual elements.

Center of the
hall: a Zodiac circle, with four female figurines on each corner who
symbolize the four seasons

North side
(bottom of photo): a painting of the Biblical story of the binding of Isaac ("Akedat
Itzchak").

Around these
three panels are geometric patterns, with paintings of animals, birds, plants
and fruits.

These three panels are detailed below.

South panel - Ark and ritual elements

The upper (southern)
section of the mosaic was close to the holiest section of the synagogue.
Therefore, this panel has the Jewish religious illustrations, with the Torah ark
in its center. This design is also common to other ancient synagogues in the
region.

The covered ark is located under
a roof, two ostriches flanking the edge of the roof, and the eternal flame in
the center. A candelabrum and a lion are depicted on each of its sides, and
other ritual objects appear around it (ram's horn, palm branch, citron
fruit and incense shovel).

Center panel - Zodiac

The center of the
Zodiac is seen below, which symbols the cycle of Nature. In this
scene is Helius, the Greek God of the Sun, ascending from the sea on
a carriage pulled by4 horses. Around the center of the zodiac
are twelve signs of the Zodiac, with their Hebrew names.

Helios was the Titan god
of the sun who presided over the the measurement and divisions
of the day, the year and the seasons. It was a common motif in
ancient synagogues in Israel, where 7 sites (Sepphoris,
Hammat-Tiberias, Yafia, Khirbet Susiya,
Beth She'an, Naaran and Husifa) illustrated the twelve zodiac signs
with Helios in a sun chariot, most of them surrounded by
angels. Although this is a Jewish synagogue, these pagan symbols
were common at that period and used only for decorative purposes.

Another view of the zodiac in the center of the floor:

North panel - The binding of Isaac

The mosaic section in
the panel below the zodiac illustrates the Biblical story of the
sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham. This is also common to other synagogue floors.

The two young men
depicted on the left were part of the story, when Abraham told
his men to wait with the donkey, as seen in this painting (Genesis
22:16-17): "And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with
the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come
again to you." On the right side is a part of the scene of Abraham
and Isaac at the place of the altar, with their names in Hebrew
(Isaac, Abraham). In the center is a lamb that replaced Isaac as a
sacrifice (Genesis 22: 13): "And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and
looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his
horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a
burnt offering in the stead of his son".

Under the illustration are two inscriptions. The
upper Greek inscription (5 rows) names the artists, while the lower Aramaic
inscription (7 rows, partially damaged) names the donors and describes the time
of the mosaic's commissioning (Justine).

The paintings look naive and primitive. If
compared to the Zodiac mosaics in Hammat Tiberias or Sepphoris, they look like a
they were copied from these synagogues. However, they do
present a magnificent and colorful setting for the synagogue.

(d) Japanese Garden in Hefzi-Bah

Makuya (Japanese for Mishkan - the Holy
Tabernacle - God's dwelling place) is a Japanese Christian religious movement which identifies
intensely with the
state of Israel and its people. It was founded in 1948 by the late professor Ikurō Teshima (1910-1973).

A charming Japanese garden is located on the highest point
in Kibbutz Hefzi-Ba, close to the cliffs of Mt. Gilboa, and is open to the public. It
was planned by the Makuya's founder as a symbol of Japanese culture and
appreciation to the Israeli pioneering.

Built in 1975, the garden was constructed in the
spirit of the Biblical prophecy (Isaiah 41, 18-20): "I will open rivers in high
places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a
pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness
the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the
desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: That they may see,
and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath
done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it". Indeed, this
garden, and the people of Israel, materializes this prophecy.

From the garden are great views of the area,
since the garden is located at the highest point in the Kibbutz.

In the background of the photo below you can see,
behind the bushes, the southern side of Ramot Naftali (Naphtali heights)
and the fish ponds in the valley of Harod.

Note that this garden is on private property of the
Kibbutz. Visits are required to be coordinated with the public relations person
in charge of tours (see links for details).

In a small cave above the garden, embedded into the cliffs of
Mt Gilboa, the Makuya have a private praying shrine. This cave is a
Roman/Byzantine period cistern, which supplied water to the village.

The Makuya movement sends its youths to Kibbutz
settlements in Israel, and their primary stay is in Kibbutz Hefzi-Ba,
where they have a Hebrew learning center (Ulpan). The Japanese youths are warmly accepted and
hosted by the members of the Kibbutz. Webmaster Rotem's Uncle Ronnie and Aunt
Aviva, who are members of the Kibbutz, frequently invite their "adapted" Makuya
youths to their home. They, and other youths of Hefzi-Ba, were invited to
participate in the summer of 2010 to the Makuya international conference in Kumamoto, Japan, and
to a
special bi-national concert in Tokyo (picture below: singer Hanan Yovel;
ambassador of Israel and his staff; Makuya member) .

Etymology (behind the name):

Beit Alpha - Hebrew: Beit is
"house". Alpha is the first Greek letter, and was a private name
used in the Greek and Roman times (Alpha is common name in the
Talmud). Therefore, the name means "the House of Alpha".

Khirbet Beit Ilfa - the ruins of
the Roman/Byzantine town (appears in the 1881-3 map of the PEF
survey). The Arabic name of the ruins preserved the ancient Roman
name.

Kibbutz Beit Alpha - The Kibbutz was
established in 1922. It is named after the ancient site.

Hefzi-ba (Hephzi-bah) - The Kibbutz
on the west side of the ancient synagogue was established in 1922.
It is a female Hebrew name and means: "I desire her", which refers
to the love of Jerusalem (and is one of the city's names).
Biblical reference: Isaiah 62 4: "Thou shalt no more be
termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed
Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah:
for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married."

Note that
are places in Israel are named Hefzi-ba, such as near Hadera.